Updated: 5:21 p.m. 7/16/14
Campbellsville University is seeking looser ties with the Kentucky Baptist Convention so it can appoint its own trustees. But the move will cause the loss of KBC funding.
Baptist paper The Western Recorder reports the university's trustees voted to revise its bylaws allowing the board to appoint its own trustees.
Board Chairman Joseph Owens and President Michael Carter wrote a letter saying it wants a self-perpetuating board to avoid “undue influence and the imposition of theological and doctrinal control.”
The university has been a KBC affiliate receiving support since signing a Covenant Agreement in 1986. Baptist Press reports Campbellsville’s budget is $57 million annually and that the KBC’s contribution of $1 million amounts to 2 percent of that budget.
Owens and Carter say they want to phase out that support over four years.
BP quotes Owens saying there has been a deterioration of ongoing relations with KBC leadership. KBC Executive Director Paul Chitwood says Campbellsville’s proposed bylaws are inconsistent with their current agreement.
More from that report:
According to [Chitwood’s] letter, [the university’s lawyer Jim] Straus indicated that Campbellsville's leaders want to forge a new partnership agreement similar to one forged between Georgetown College and KBC in 2005 after that school requested to end its covenant agreement with the convention in order to establish a self-perpetuating board. But KBC messengers ended that partnership arrangement and severed ties with the college at last year's annual meeting. … "We have desired to have a dialogue with the KBC leadership that would help lead to a new partnership and relationship -- one that would retain our proven commitment to Kentucky Baptists while protecting academic freedom and institutional integrity," Owens said. "We have requested a dialogue on a continuing partnership, and we stand by that position." Chitwood urged members of the Mission Board to "pray for wisdom on the part of our KBC officers and leaders as they help us navigate these waters." "While we grieve the decision of another school to distance itself from the churches that have long supported her," Chitwood wrote, "we know that we still have institutions who remain faithfully committed to their covenant with Kentucky Baptists and to the mission of reaching Kentucky and the world for Christ."
Owens and Carter say in their letter the university plans on remaining a Baptist university and wants to remain a "partner in ministry" with the KBC.
Note: Whitney Jones is a freelance writer for the KBC and The Western Recorder and worked previously at Baptist Press.
